Castles of Steel - Lesbians Good, Imperialism Bad

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Lieutenant Arisukawa Haruna

Balance Stats
❁ • ❁ Work / Life ❁ • ❁
❁ • ❁ Warrior / Princess ❁ • ❁
❁ • ❁ Radical / Respectable ❁ • ❁

Tactical Stats
Gunnery 0, Navigation +2, Command +2, Technology -4, Personal -2, Strategy +3

Stress: 3​


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PLEASE READ THE QUEST RULES BELOW

You collectively vote on the actions of Arisukawa Haruna, the first woman to serve openly in the Imperial Akitsukuni Navy.

This quest is set in a universe which is much like our own circa 1910, but with different politics, cultural norms, and ideas about gender and sexuality, as well as some unusual and advanced technology in places.

We are using this quest to explore themes like breaking the glass ceiling, divergent outlooks on gender and sexuality, colonialism and imperialism, and the place of royalty.

Content Warning
This quest goes some dark places.

There is violence, often explicit, often unfair, often against undeserving targets.

There are not always good options forward. The protagonist is not necessarily a good person.

There is implied content and discussion of sexual harassment and assault.

This is a world where people are often racist, sexist, queerphobic bigots. Sometimes, even the PC and the people they are friends with.

Voting Rules

We will tell you if write-in votes are allowed. If we do not say that write-ins are allowed, they are not. This is to prevent people from unrealistically hedging their bets.

You may proposal other options in a non-vote format, subject to approval, on non write-in votes.

We will tell you when a vote allows approved voting. If we don't say the answer is no, pick an option. We like making people commit.

Discussions makes the GM feel fuzzy.

Game Rules
When we ask you for a roll, roll 3d6. You are aiming to roll equal or under the value of your stat. If you succeed, Haruna gets through the situation with no real difficulties. If you roll above the target value, Haruna will still succeed, but this success will cost her something or add a complication.

Whenever Haruna loses something or faces hardship from a botched roll, she takes Stress. The more Stress Haruna has, the more the job and the circumstances she's in will get to her, and it'll be reflected in the narrative. Haruna must be kept under 10 Stress: if she reaches 10 Stress, she will suffer a breakdown and the results will not be great for her.

Haruna loses stress by taking time for herself, by making meaningful progress on her dreams, and by kissing tall, beautiful women.

Meta Rules
Author commentary is in italics so you know it's not story stuff.

Please don't complain about the system or the fact we have to roll dice. We've heard it before, we've heard it a thousand times across multiple quests. We're not going to change it, and it wears at our fucking souls.

Just going "oh noooo" or "Fish RNGesus Why!" is fun and fine. Complaining at length because you didn't get what you want less so.

If you have a question, tag both @open_sketchbook and @Artificial Girl. If you only tag one of us, you will be ignored. Seriously, we both write this quest.

And yes this is an alt-history type setting with openly gay and trans people, ahistoric medicine, and weird politics. Just... deal, please?

This quest employs a special system called Snippet Votes. Please read this post for more information.
 
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open_sketch said:
The list of issues with the use of aircraft as much of anything but scouting craft is soon growing quite long: range too short, landing and retrieval at sea too difficult, construction too delicate, carrying capacity too low and on and on and on. Really, are you writing anything that the people at Naval HQ don't already know?
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Haruna is going to be rather put out when this is interpreted as a requirements document rather than a condemnation of the approach.
 
[X] Be honest, perhaps a bit too honest, about the worst parts. You have a good collection of horror stories, now is the time. Before he's shipped off there in a few years and it's too late.
 
[X] Be honest, perhaps a bit too honest, about the worst parts. You have a good collection of horror stories, now is the time. Before he's shipped off there in a few years and it's too late.
 
[X] Be honest, perhaps a bit too honest, about the worst parts. You have a good collection of horror stories, now is the time. Before he's shipped off there in a few years and it's too late.
 
[X] Be protective. Tell him all the survival strategies you learned from your time there. Do your best to prepare him for this, though you can't imagine he'll ever be prepared.

Early teenage boys have a tendency to think nothing bad can happen to them and tune out horror stories about future risks. At least if we offer advice that helps make his time easier, he might listen to what we have to say.

If we ever get a chance in the future, we should visit him again and try and help him off the militarism spiral. Perhaps an unachievable hope...
 
9-2: Brothers and Sisters
  • Threadmarks
    • Figuring out the best way of wording your sisterly advice was tricky. Too protective and he'd probably think you were softening it for him. Too harsh and he'd think you were making it up to scare him. Even more so, he might consider that your advice isn't applicable because you were a girl when it happened (and, technically speaking, still were) and so it might not apply to his situation.

    "I… liked it fine," you said. "It was the Academy. There's not a lot to say about it, is there? And I don't know how similar it is to your mess."

    "Oh," Shigeyori responded quietly, the disappointment evident. You realized your mistake instantly; he was looking for somebody to talk to about the Academy, maybe because he hated it, and your cautious, noncommittal response sounded like a rejection of that invitation. You needed to turn this around, but not too suddenly or he might feel trapped.

    "I imagine it can't be too different, though, especially some of the less palatable aspects?" you continued, hoping it was enough. "I imagine the instructors are much the same everywhere…" you paused briefly, scanning his face for a reaction and being unsure at what you saw. "... as are the other students."

    … Perhaps something had already happened to him? Oh, of course, that was the first thing to determine. You had to work out what, and how to help, and then perhaps who to kill. Maybe not kill if it was another student, but if it was a teacher…

    "In the Naval Academy the senior classmen were rather like kings unto themselves, especially the new arrivals. Admittedly, I didn't have that much contact with them because of the way they set me up, but they would recruit you to carry books, black their boots, and do all the sort of menial cadet tasks they couldn't be bothered with," you said with a thoughtful tap of your chin, deliberately doing your best to seem thoughtful, lost in a memory rather than addressing it specifically to his experience. You glanced at Shigeyori and looked a touch embarrassed.

    "...I had to clean up a barracks room for some of the older students, me and some other first years. I'd never cleaned anything before," he admitted in a shy voice and you could hear his fingers tapping at the tatami matting--a nervous tic that mother had never been able to get him to stop.

    "So they yelled at me when I got it wrong and then the upperclassmen yelled at me too."

    Ah, yes. Transitioning from the life of 'privileged scion of a noble house' to 'lowest person on the ladder' was a jarring experience. Of course, for you they'd had to invent a new, even lower rung. A subterranean, or perhaps submersible, rung. You still seethed when you remembered being ordered around like a housemaid (though the tiny Aiko voice in the back of your head was saying 'Well how did you like it, Haru-chan?'). Hell, Hideaki had been a year ahead of you and he'd been one of the worst when it came to expecting you to make sure his laundry got done and cleaning up after him.

    It was a bit of a shock, remembering that, considering how different your relationship with him had become in the years since and thinking over how he had come to see you to apologize afterwards (being literally and figuratively the bigger man when it came to almost all of his classmates). Now you considered him a dear friend but at the time you'd wished more than once that the bamboo sword during your fencing classes had a real edge so you could run him through. Though explaining to your little brother that some of them would be his friends later probably wasn't going to be much help to him in the moment, when he was feeling discouraged and put upon.

    "It… Well, it's not great but it's normal for those kinds of schools," you said with a compassionate smile. "The best thing you can do is do your best and learn from your mistakes. If you make your best effort and people see that, they'll certainly come to acknowledge your efforts in time," you continued.

    "Besides that, you'll probably be expected to do it as well, when you have juniors. It's part of the way they think it teaches discipline and respect for authority. "

    "Well, does it?" Shigeyori asked in an expectant voice.

    "I expect that it does, or else… they wouldn't do it, right?" you answered his question one of your own, the certainty and conviction in the answer draining a little with each syllable. As you knew, the Navy did nothing without reason, good reason at that. One hundred percent.

    "I guess you're right," Shigeyori said glumly as he scribbled little circles in the corner of an exercise book. His answer had the effect of convincing you of the exact opposite.

    "You've been keeping out of trouble otherwise, right? No demerits or anything like that?" They had demerits in the Army, right? You didn't know how the Army worked. It was a strange, mud-caked place that you never examined too closely lest you be wrecked upon the rocks of their mediocrity.

    "No! Not at all. Actually the Commandant says that I have top marks for good behavior and discipline in my year," he said with no small amount of glowing pride. Growing up with your mother had done some good, then--it prepared you for people's insane expectations for good behavior. You nodded approvingly.

    "Good. Keep that up. It will make you stand out to them in a positive way," you said. Though on the other hand being too obedient might make him stand out to his peers in a negative way--some kind of teacher's pet. There was nothing for it, though. Shigeyori had never been one to act out or to step out of line.

    "If other students act jealousy about it, remember; it is your instructors opinions that will affect your placements, not your peers."

    He gave a small, determined nod. Follow the rules even harder, that's something he could do. That's what you'd done, even when they made up reasons to say you'd broken them.

    "I'm not sure if there's anything else I can offer, unfortunately," you said with a frown. "The Army and the Navy are… different in a lot of ways once we get into more specifics." The difference that loomed largest in your mind was one of class; the Navy was noble, old, aristocratic, the big expensive service that had absorbed the old ways in changing times. The Army was new money, where it was money at all, the bulk of its young officers drawn from the middle class. You knew that was a simplification, that it wasn't so cut and dry (as your brother's future entry into the service testified) but the difference felt stark in your mind.

    "I'll be fine, seriously!" he said with a voice that you thought sounded more chipper than he was letting on, but you couldn't be sure. Like you, he'd had a lifetime of having to learn to mask what he was really thinking behind outward appearances. He might want you to stop babying him, but that didn't seem right. Older sisters were valuable sources of information and wise advice, after all. There was nothing embarrassing about relying on your older sister whatsoever.

    "I know, I know. But if you do need more advice I do happen to know an Army officer, though. I'm sure he wouldn't mind if I shared a few anecdotes." You had to know at least one, right? You were sure you'd met one. And an older officer who was both a man and in the same branch of the service might be the best man for that sort of thing. You started searching your mind for Army acquaintances that weren't dead or more than likely invalidated out of the service thanks to war neurosis.

    "I didn't know you associated with people in the Army," Shigeyori teased. "You're going to ruin your Navy reputation."
    "It's already bad enough because I'm a girl in their little clubhouse," you retorted. What was the name…? Right!

    "Arita Yachi. Lieutenant-Colonel Arita Yachi! I met him at a wedding last year, and-" you stopped. No need to tell him that the two of you had punched out party crashers together. Or that you'd originally found him in a brothel in the city of Nokor. "He's got a good head on his--"

    "Arita Yachi? Like the writer Arita Yachi?" Shigeyori was staring at you with bright, excited eyes.

    "I suppose so? Does he write?"

    "Like the Akitsukuni ace-of-aces Arita Yachi? The pilot?"

    "Ah, yes. He mentioned he did some flying of pursuit planes during the war or something like that…"

    "Or something like that?! Haru! He's like the best pilot from Akitsukuni ever. The second-most aerial victories in the world! And you know him?! That's so awesome! He's a real war hero!" He was practically babbling with excitement about the man. You were also a war hero but you didn't have the ill-grace to say it out loud. It made sense he'd look up more to someone in the Army than his groundbreaking, first-of-her-kind, extremely competent and highly decorated Naval big sister. Perfectly logical and you weren't upset by it at all.

    "I… Well, I've met him a few times, but I wouldn't say we're more than acquaintances. But I'm sure if I asked him, he'd write… or accept a letter from you?" He seemed like a nice fellow. You just hoped he wouldn't mind answering some fanmail from a fourteen-year old cadet.

    "Would you? Please?" He was picking up another dog-eared copy of Young Cadet. "They publish all his stories here, too!" He showed you the cover, which showed a pale blue Akitsukuni aircraft, one of the absurd ones with the rear-mounted propeller and staggered ahead and behind of the cockpit. It looked like a bullet that had grown wings somehow. In the illustration, its tail was painted with a red snarling warrior's facemask and it was mid-dive, firing its machineguns at some bat-winged enemy aircraft.

    "Does he write stories about flying?" You asked, incredulous. If someone had asked you to write stories about how exciting war was for young cadets to gobble up you'd have looked at them like they were crazy. You loved what you did, but it also terrified you down to your core in a way nothing else ever would. As far as you were concerned, the young shouldn't be sold false visions of heroism about the actual life and death struggle that war entailed. Yes, part of what had driven you to join the Navy had been stories of naval heroism and dashing and the old tales of warrior-princesses leading their armies with spear and bows in hand, but you knew better now! And it had been different for you!

    This entire conversation had been somewhat uncomfortably revealing.

    "Yes! Please say you'll get him to write? Or… I'll give you a letter for him and he can write back if he wants?" You didn't want to anymore but you'd already put the idea in his head and saying no would just make Shigeyori upset. And besides, Yachi would probably decline to write anything back, or just send a form letter or something. It would be fine.

    "...I'll see what I can do. I make no promises. He is Army and I am Navy."

    "Thank you!" He beamed. "I'll have it for you before you leave."

    ---

    When you returned to the flat, feeling a little despondent at the feeling of emptiness once again, you found that there was a wire waiting for you. Aiko had finally sent word! She had successfully gotten to Katuroa in the presence of the other civilians had left for home and they would be departing the very morning the telegram had been sent! Soon she'd be back home, safe and sound and ready to get back to her studies. The relief you felt was so palpable you slouched over your table sobbed out all your anxiety and stress.

    Quietly, though. Because your neighbors didn't need to hear that.

    Even with that relief, though, you'd need to pick something to focus on as you waited for her to return.

    ---

    What do you want to focus on for the next several days? This'll probably be the last chance for non-job stuff for a while so make it count.

    [ ] Invest in your physical training regime. Be in top shape for when Aiko comes back!
    [ ] Look into Aiko's participation in the Women's Equality League, and see if there isn't something you can do for them. Their work is part of the reason you have your job; maybe you could repay that somehow.
    [ ] Head to the Academy and find out what the hell is going on with the Navy cadets that Cadet Kurasaka was such a mess.
     
  • Threadmarks
    • oh no, yachi's gonna hate that- a wet-behind-the-ears kid he has to disillusion personally
    On the other hand, though- a fresh and influential mind he can teach honorable conduct to, the kind they don't teach at the academy.
    You know, this kind:
    open_sketch said:
    Good. Now, first, you were going to find Nashio and make sure he knew she hadn't stolen it, and to let him know that when you got back, if you heard even the slightest rumour of him doing something untoward to Mi-Yung or her replacement, you were going to skin him alive.
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    open_sketch said:
    "It's fine, sergeant. Just a bit of nonjudicial punishment."
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    He'll be a good influence on the kid, but i don't think anyone is gonna recognize that. Least of all Yachi.
     
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    [X] Look into Aiko's participation in the Women's Equality League, and see if there isn't something you can do for them. Their work is part of the reason you have your job; maybe you could repay that somehow.
     
    [X] Invest in your physical training regime. Be in top shape for when Aiko comes back!

    Be in top shape for when Aiko comes back (and then leave on deployement).
     
    [X] Head to the Academy and find out what the hell is going on with the Navy cadets that Cadet Kurasaka was such a mess.
     
    [x] Head to the Academy and find out what the hell is going on with the Navy cadets that Cadet Kurasaka was such a mess.

    This is going to be a disaster but it has to be done if we want to improve things.
     
    [X] Look into Aiko's participation in the Women's Equality League, and see if there isn't something you can do for them. Their work is part of the reason you have your job; maybe you could repay that somehow.

    Sounds like great characterization opportunity.
     
    Helping hte Women's Equality League sounds good, but would be horribly awkward, and maybe we can just make sure their work wasn't wasted?

    [X] Head to the Academy and find out what the hell is going on with the Navy cadets that Cadet Kurasaka was such a mess.
     
    [x] Head to the Academy and find out what the hell is going on with the Navy cadets that Cadet Kurasaka was such a mess.
     
    [X] Head to the Academy and find out what the hell is going on with the Navy cadets that Cadet Kurasaka was such a mess.

    I would love to pursue the Woman's League stuff and I hope we get more opportunities for it, but there's a war on out there. If there are problems at the Academy, we should at least know what they are, even if we can't immediately solve them.
     
    One thing to consider is that we're at Stress 3 right now (is Stress still a system that is in use, I forgot?), and the Academy Situation is likely to be quite stressfull. It could easily add 1 or 2 more.

    Starting a deployment with half the stress meter used up will be less than ideal.

    We should take advantage of the last non-job stuff to do non-stressfull stuff while we can.
     
    [X] Look into Aiko's participation in the Women's Equality League, and see if there isn't something you can do for them. Their work is part of the reason you have your job; maybe you could repay that somehow.
     
    [X] Head to the Academy and find out what the hell is going on with the Navy cadets that Cadet Kurasaka was such a mess.

    I'd like to see what's up with the WEL too, but this was definitely odd and I'd like to nose around.
     
    [X] Head to the Academy and find out what the hell is going on with the Navy cadets that Cadet Kurasaka was such a mess.
     
    [X] Look into Aiko's participation in the Women's Equality League, and see if there isn't something you can do for them. Their work is part of the reason you have your job; maybe you could repay that somehow.
     
    [X] Head to the Academy and find out what the hell is going on with the Navy cadets that Cadet Kurasaka was such a mess.
     
    The Women's Equality League stuff is also important but... I have a feeling that this is something we're more likely to be able to gain results from:

    [X] Head to the Academy and find out what the hell is going on with the Navy cadets that Cadet Kurasaka was such a mess.
     
    [X] Look into Aiko's participation in the Women's Equality League, and see if there isn't something you can do for them. Their work is part of the reason you have your job; maybe you could repay that somehow.
     
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